Draw revealed for the 2024 World Darts Championship: Michael Smith could begin defence of his crown against Grand Slam revelation Stowe Buntz

Michael Smith will start the defence of his World Darts Championship with a tie against Kevin Doets or Stowe Buntz, the draw for the 2024 edition has revealed. The draw was conducted on Monday by former world champions Phil Taylor and Dennis Priestley.

The 31st edition of the World Darts Championship will take place from Friday, December 15, 2023, to Wednesday, January 3, 2024, at the Alexandra Palace in London. The field of participants consists of a total of 96 players. The top-32 of the world rankings will enter the tournament from the second round. In the first round, the 32 Pro Tour qualifiers will play against the international qualifiers for a spot in the final 64.

Also in Smith's quarter of the draw are ties such as 9th seed Jonny Clayton to play the winner of either Steve Lennon or debutant Owen Bates and former World Champion Rob Cross, who'll begin his campaign against either Mario Vandenbogaerde or the first Frenchman to ever compete at the PDC World Darts Championship, Thibault Tricole.

Peter Wright will be defending £500,000 prize money so will need to have a good run in order to avoid a sharp drop in the rankings. 'Snakebite' begins his campaign for a third world title against one of Jim Williams or Norman Madhoo. Gerwyn Price is another standout name in that section and the Welshman has drawn either Connor Scutt or Krzysztof Kciuk. The resurgent Gary Anderson also slots into the second quarter and a potentially blockbuster tie with Simon Whitlock may lie in wait for 'the Flying Scotsman', if Whitlock can first beat Paolo Nebrida.

After his run to the final of the Players Championship Finals last weekend, Michael van Gerwen now knows who awaits him at Ally Pally. Either Keane Barry or Reynaldo Rivera face the ominous task of going up against an in-form 'Mighty Mike'. Another one of the form men in the darting world at the moment is Stephen Bunting and the former Lakeside champion will begin his latest World Championship against either Ryan Joyce or Alex Spellman. Fallon Sherrock meanwhile will face Jermaine Wattimena for the chance to take on Martin Schindler.

No one enters the Alexandra Palace in better shape than Luke Humphries however. After taking three major title in the last few weeks, the pre-tournament favourite begins his campaign for a first world title against either Lee Evans or Sandro Eric Sosing. In a tough section though, World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall faces either Ricky Evans or Simon Adams and a semi-finalist last year, Gabriel Clemens will be hoping another fairy-tale can begin when he goes head-to-head with one of Gian van Veen or Man Lok Leung. Also notably, Mikuru Suzuki returns to the Ally Pally and will face Ricardo Pietreczko, with Callan Rydz laying in wait.

[1] Michael Smith v Kevin Doets/Stowe Buntz

[32] Madars Razma v Mike de Decker/Dragutin Horvat

[16] Ross Smith v Niels Zonneveld/Darren Webster

[17] Chris Dobey v William O'Connor/Bhav Patel

[8] Rob Cross v Mario Vandenbogaerde/Thibault Tricole

[25] Jose de Sousa v Ritchie Edhouse/Jeffrey de Graaf

[9] Jonny Clayton v Steve Lennon/Owen Bates

[24] Krzysztof Ratajski v Jamie Hughes/David Cameron

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[4] Peter Wright v Jim Williams/Norman Madhoo

[29] Raymond van Barneveld v Radek Szaganski/Marko Kantele

[13] James Wade v Matt Campbell/Lourence Ilagan

[20] Andrew Gilding v Christian Kist/Luke Littler

[5] Gerwyn Price v Connor Scutt/Krzysztof Kciuk

[28] Brendan Dolan v Mickey Mansell/Xiaochen Zong

[12] Dirk van Duijvenbode v Keegan Brown/Boris Krcmar

[21] Gary Anderson v Simon Whitlock/Paolo Nebrida

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[2] Michael van Gerwen v Keane Barry/Reynaldo Rivera

[31]Kim Huybrechts v Richard Veenstra/Ben Robb

[15] Dimitri Van den Bergh v Dylan Slevin/Florian Hempel

[18] Stephen Bunting v Ryan Joyce/Alex Spellman

[7] Danny Noppert v Scott Williams/Haruki Muramatsu

[26] Martin Schindler v Jermaine Wattimena/Fallon Sherrock

[10] Damon Heta v Martin Lukeman/Haupai Puha

[23] Josh Rock v Luke Woodhouse/Berry van Peer

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[3] Luke Humphries v Lee Evans/Sandro Eric Sosing

[30] Callan Rydz v Ricardo Pietreczko/Mikuru Suzuki

[14] Joe Cullen v Jules van Dongen/Darren Penhall

[19] Ryan Searle v Ian White/Tomoya Goto

[6] Nathan Aspinall v Ricky Evans/Simon Adams

[27] Daryl Gurney v Steve Beaton/Wessel Nijman

[11] Dave Chisnall v Cameron Menzies/Rusty-Jake Rodriguez

[22] Gabriel Clemens v Gian van Veen/Man Lok Leung